Jeffrey Schillinger

Thanks, Edward. Good post!

Thank you, Paul. It is important to make a good "first impression" at the start of every class meeting. What are some things that you do regularly to get your classes off to a good start?

Thanks, Kim. The consistent contact before small issues become big problems is a common, but important practice at successful career colleges. The key is that the contact has to be framed with a "How can I help you?" attitude.

Thank you, Edward. What you have written is a good summary of the attitudes that makes career colleges successful.

Martha, Thank you for this post. These are tried and true techniques used in many career colleges. The best staff and faculty do these things with the intent of making them about student recognition and student success. It is worth talking about the "why" once in a while to keep folks from slipping into the "going through the motions" attitutes when doing these things.

Thanks, Patricia. The emotional state of a learner is something that always impacts how they will interact and how effectively they will learn. The parent analogy is an interesting one.

Thank you, Martha. What do you discuss during your retention meetings that makes a difference for your students?

Thank you, Peter. Many institutions have added competency checks in selected courses that require students to demonstrate that they have mastered a particular skill. In my school, students who cannot successfully demonstrate each of the competencies in a selected course automatically fail the course even if they did well in the rest of the course. Students get lots of time to practice a skill under the supervision of a qualified faculty membeer. The also get more than one chance to demonstate the skill. By the end, they have to be able to perform or they have to repeat the course.

Maria, Providing a realistic idea of what teaching for you will really be like is very important. Most folks who have not done formal teaching have no idea of the amount of preparation it takes to plan and deliver good lessons. Discussing this up front may chase away a teacher or two, but they would have left fairly quickly anyway.